1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of manufacturing a composite material comprising a rubber and a clay mineral, dispersed uniformly therein in a level of molecule.
2. Description of the Related Art
In order to improve the mechanical property of a rubber material, there have been made researches for mixing clay mineral with the rubber material. For example, in the method disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 1-198645, the clay mineral is organized by using oligomer having onium ions introduced into the end or the side chains thereof, and the organized clay mineral is applied into the rubber material.
In the method disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 60-4541, mica treated with ammonium chloride or choline chloride and process oil are mixed with the rubber material.
The above-mentioned methods have the following problems:
In the art disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 1-198645, the oligomer having the onium ions introduced into the end or the side chains thereof cannot be prepared easily. Further, because the oligomer is intercalated in the clay mineral directly, there are cases in which the clay mineral swells in a low degree.
In the art disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 60-4541, the process oil and the mica are added to the rubber material. The mica treated with ammonium chloride or choline chloride is unmiscible with the process oil. Thus, the mica cannot be dispersed into the rubber material uniformly, with the increase in the amount of the process oil.